Flying With Your Pet - Terminal4Pets.com Avis 

Very similar experience to the other 1* review.

I chose Terminal4Pets because of its reputation and paid a deposit to relocate my Boston Terrier from the UK to Israel.

I fully appreciate that transporting a short snout breed during an uncertain period is complex and that airlines and geopolitical events are outside the company's control. My disappointment is not with those factors, but with the level of communication and customer service I experienced.

Over several months I repeatedly had to chase updates and ask the same questions regarding rabies requirements, travel documentation and the correct crate size. Many of my emails went unanswered, including repeated requests for advice on the appropriate travel crate so that I could begin acclimatising my anxious dog well in advance of travel. This was an important welfare issue, not simply a logistical question.

I also found myself contacting Lufthansa directly to obtain information about flights, transit requirements and airline policies, and in some cases passing that information back to Terminal4Pets. As a customer paying for a specialist relocation service, I expected clearer guidance and more proactive communication.

Eventually I lost confidence and sought a second opinion from another pet relocation company. Within a few days they provided a detailed quotation, a clear checklist of the documentation required, guidance on the correct crate, an explanation of the process and prompt responses to every question I asked. The contrast in communication was significant.

I appreciate that others may have had positive experiences, but unfortunately mine did not meet the standard of service I expected when entrusting a company with the international relocation of a much-loved family pet.

To all my friends with animals - pay attention!
Be very careful! Before you decide to use the services of Terminal4Pets / Animal Airways

Based on our personal experience, this is one of the unsuccessful, stressful, disappointing and unacceptable services that we have received, especially when dealing with a company that was supposed to manage an international flight of our family dog, Lola, from the UK to Israel.

This is not your usual criticism of "poor customer service". In my opinion, this is a fundamental failure at the core of the service that the Animal Aviation Company is supposed to provide: planning, communication, coordination with an airline, risk management, transparency, responsibility, and genuine professional accompaniment.
We paid for a professional service because we wanted peace of mind, protection of our dog's well-being, a clear budget framework, and a managed process. In fact, we were forced to repeatedly chase up basic answers, ask for updates, remind us of essential issues, ask the same questions over and over again, and finally intervene ourselves in critical points.

The flying cage - a basic and essential requirement for a dog's physical and emotional health - has been raised repeatedly for more than two weeks. Nevertheless, we have not received a clear, orderly and timely treatment of the issue but overwhelming ignorance and lack of understanding of the basis of behaviour towards animals. For a company that presents itself as an expert in animal aviation, I find this a serious and very worrying failure. We saw the flight cage on the day of the flight itself! You won't give a dog all the time to adjust to the cage. This is a very dangerous situation that puts the dog in physical and mental tension for 12 hours without being killed at all.

Coordinating with the airline would have been even more disturbing. Only a few days before the flight, we are told that the company has no direct connection with El-Al London Heathrow, and that the procedures are done through an agent. In my opinion, this is essential information that should have been given to us in advance, in the beginning. If we had known this in time, we would have made totally different decisions. Along the way we were delivered unreliable information, half-truths and direct conversations with representatives of the company we were told things that there is no connection between reality. The owner of the company presented a false presentation that the airline was creating problems and in fact the reality was completely different.

The issue of race and the risk against the airline was also known at an early stage, but in our opinion it was not managed, not delivered and not clarified in time in a professional way. As a result, we found ourselves a few days before an international flight and cross-country in a state of stress, uncertainty, and a feeling that there is no real control over the process.

The media in front of the case manager was, from our experience, below all criticism, responsive, short, unclear and sometimes insatisfactory or outrageous. We didn't feel that we were getting professional support from an experienced company, but that we were managing the process ourselves - while paying the company that was supposed to do exactly that.

Even after landing in Israel the failures did not end. We received the wrong instructions regarding the pick-up location, the release process took almost twice the time given to us in advance, and the local practice felt unorganized, unprofessional, and irresponsible.

To our feeling, Lola came to Israel despite the way the case is handled - not thanks to him. We've been forced to pursue, intervene, turn to airline representatives ourselves, and carry out actions that a professional airline should have done for us in the first place.
I would never trust this company with an animal again! I can't recommend her to anyone who cares about transparency, clear communication, peace of mind, professional responsibility and the well-being of his animal.